Duggan and Napoleon: Orr can go back to D.C.

12:16 AM, September 13, 2013

Mike Duggan, left, and Benny Napoleon. / Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

The two men competing to be Detroit’s next mayor agree on one thing: They want to send the city’s emergency manager back to Washington, D.C., so the newly elected official can take charge, even under constraints of a federal bankruptcy judge.

But if Kevyn Orr’s relationship with the current mayor is any indicator of things to come, the next mayor could be stepping into a role much different than that of a traditional city leader.

“We’ve elected a person to manage the city within a framework that the court is leading, so why would we need an emergency manager?” said Benny Napoleon, the Wayne County sheriff who has railed against Gov. Rick Snyder’s decisions on Detroit’s financial crisis, calling them a nullification of the will of residents. “I’m more than capable of carrying out the directions of the court.”

Former Detroit Medical Center CEO Mike Duggan, equally critical of Orr’s appointment, said that if he is elected, his first task would be to convince Snyder to end Orr’s tenure early so he and his turnaround team can take charge.

“I’m going to start by trying to work collaboratively with the governor,” Duggan said, “but if that fails, I’ll take my own plan of adjustment to the judge.”

It’s tough talk for two men competing fiercely for votes and whose salary and powers as mayor would rest with Orr.

But if Mayor Dave Bing’s time under Orr’s tenure offers any clues, the emergency manager likely will cast a large shadow over the agendas and aspirations of either candidate, for at least the first nine months in office. Orr is working under a contract with the city that Gov. Rick Snyder says will end in September 2014.

Democrat John Austin — president of the state Board of Education and director of the Michigan Economic Center at the Prima Civitas Foundation, a nonprofit economic and community development collaborative in East Lansing — said Napoleon and Duggan have to run opposed to Orr and position themselves as capable of leading the transition without him.

But either new mayor needs a level of behind-the-scenes cooperation with Orr, at least in the short term, if he hopes to deliver on campaign pledges, said Austin, who has worked with Bing on urban policy initiatives.

“I don’t know how they do that unless either Benny Napoleon or Mike Duggan is able to have a relationship with the emergency manager,” Austin said. “They’ll have to find a way to work collaboratively to get decision-making back. Certainly the governor would understand the need for both to say they want him out, but they’ll also need to work with Orr behind the scenes to grant the mayor more powers.”

Orr would not comment directly on questions about how he will deal with the city’s next group of elected officials.

“The emergency manager looks forward to working with Detroiters’ choice for their next mayor and representatives on City Council as we continue to rebuild Detroit,” spokesman Bill Nowling said Thursday.